DMCA takedown backlash: EFF sues Viacom over Colbert parody clip

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has sued Viacom in US federal court for …

Viacom's DMCA takedown notices continue to generate controversy. The media giant fired off more than 100,000 notices to YouTube earlier this year, but it appears to have caught numerous legitimate videos in the crossfire. One of those clips, called "Stop the Falsiness," satirizes comedian Stephen Colbert, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has filed a federal lawsuit against Viacom, asking the judge to declare the video non-infringing.

The video, which was produced by left-wing advocacy group MoveOn, pokes fun both at Colbert and at MoveOn's own activism. It was uploaded to YouTube in August of 2006, but Viacom demanded that it be taken down and said under threat of perjury that its copyright was being violated by the clip.

The video does contain clips from "The Colbert Report," but the EFF argues that these qualify as fair use, since parody has a well-recognized copyright exemption. "Our clients' video is an act of free speech and a fair use of 'Colbert Report' clips," said EFF staff attorney Corynne McSherry in a statement sent to Ars Technica. "Viacom knows this—it's the same kind of fair use that 'The Colbert Report' and 'The Daily Show' rely upon every night as they parody other channels' news coverage."

The larger issue in the case is the use of the DMCA to silence parodies and political expression. "Online sites like YouTube have revolutionized political expression and can give the little guy an audience of millions for a political point of view," said Eli Pariser, Executive Director of MoveOn. "Copyright owners need to double-check their claims and think about free speech rights before erasing political content from sites like YouTube and misusing the DMCA."

The lawsuit seeks a declaratory judgment that the video does not infringe on Viacom copyrights, and it also asks for damages from the company. If successful, the lawsuit may exert some "chilling effects" of its own on DMCA takedown notices.